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Fairness, choice, climate responsibility

The Greens work for a fair change. Today the world wide green movement is needed more than ever. Climate change is threatening the future of our environment and our way of life. People’s well-being is threatened by changes in working life caused by the global economy. The green movement is offering a fair and safe solution. We want to leave future generations a world which is in a better condition than it is today. You can read more about our values and principles from our Statement of principles.

Background

The party was founded February 28, 1987, and registered as a political party the next year. Political activity had begun already in the early 1980s, when environmental activists, feminists and other active groups began to campaign on Green issues in Finland. In 1995 it was the first European Green party to be part of a state-level Cabinet.

The party was founded as a popular movement. The party still especially stresses openness and democratic decision-making.

The first two parliamentary representatives were elected even before the registration, in the elections of 1983. These were the first independent representatives in the Finnish parliament. In 1987 the number of seats rose to four, and in 1991 to ten.

About half of Greens were against joining the European Union in 1994. Later, polls showed that most Greens were anti-Eurozone. Nowadays the Finnish Greens are very pro-Europe and pro-Euro.

In the 1995 election the Green League received a total of nine seats (out of 200), joined the coalition-cabinet led by the Social Democrats, and Pekka Haavisto became the minister of Environment and Development Aid, thus becoming the first green minister in Europe.

The Green League received 7.3% of the vote, and gained two additional seats in 1999, raising the total to 11. In 2003 the Green League received 8.0% of the vote, giving a total of 14 seats. They increased their seats to 15 in 2007 elections when they received 8.5%. Since 2011 Greens holt 10 seats in the Parliament.

As of the 2009 elections, two of the thirteen Finnish representatives in the European Parliament are Green: Satu Hassi and Tarja Cronberg.

At the local level, Greens are an important factor in the largest cities of Finland. In the local election of 2012 the Greens had 8.5% of the vote. In Helsinki (the capital) the Greens became the 2nd largest party with 23.5% of the vote. In several other cities the Greens achieved the position of the 3rd largest party.

The Green League is one of the six parties forming the Finnish Government since June 2011. Its ministers are Ville Niinistö (Environment) and Pekka Haavisto (Development Co-operation). Our party statutes can be viewed here.